<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Wants and Needs by SingManyFaces</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25947454">Wants and Needs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingManyFaces/pseuds/SingManyFaces'>SingManyFaces</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Requited Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:35:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,090</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25947454</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingManyFaces/pseuds/SingManyFaces</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A minor injury causes Ahsoka and Anakin to make some confessions, and Anakin tries to be responsible.  It mostly works.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anakin Skywalker &amp; Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker/Ahsoka Tano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>133</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Wants and Needs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is meant to take place closer to the end of the series, rated as is just to be on the safe side.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I <em>really</em> don’t think this is necessary.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ahsoka’s hand was heavy on Anakin’s shoulder, keeping him from rising from his bunk.  “I know you don’t,” she sighed, “but if you won’t see Kix—”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“His time is better spent on the men who got worse.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But that doesn’t mean you can just go without treatment!”  Rolling her eyes, “Honestly, what would Master Obi-Wan say?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anakin snorted, arching a brow.  “Where do you think I get it from?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She narrowed her eyes, unimpressed, but knew she had to concede the point.  “Well, he’d still scold you for it,” she countered, “Just like you would scold me.”  Quickly she shined a small light into his eyes the way that she’d been taught to, found his pupils to be properly reactive; at least they didn’t have to worry about a concussion.  “So—if you won’t see Kix—you’ll just have to deal with me instead.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And, just like Kix would have, you’ll see that I’m <em>fine</em>,” he insisted.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Taking him gently by the chin she turned his head one way, then the other, carefully prodded with her thumb at what she took for a bruise on his cheekbone...and felt her brows knit as it smeared.  “Wait, I think—”  Brushing back his hair revealed a laceration by his temple, his hair soaking up most of the blood.  “Master, you’re bleeding!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He looked surprised.  “What, seriously?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<em>Yes</em>, seriously!” Ahsoka made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat.  “Your hair,” he didn’t think he’d ever heard her put so much annoyance into a single word before, “covered a bad cut.  How did you not feel the bleeding?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anakin had the decency to look a little sheepish.  “I thought it was just sweat.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That frustrated noise again, this time accompanied by an eye roll as she dug into the medkit for more supplies.  Giving him a wad of gauze pads, she positioned his hand over the wound and pressed down.  “Hold that until the bleeding stops,” she commanded, searching out a tube of bacta gel and a small suture kit, just in case. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Snips, <em>relax</em>,” he placated, “You know a little scratch like this isn’t going to stop me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Again, only if you actually treat it.”  She pressed her hand over his again, glaring.  “It’s more than a scratch.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well, then,” his voice gentled, sympathetic to her worry, “I know you’ll take good care of me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Someone has to,” she muttered, tearing open a saniplast packet with her teeth.  Extracting the moist, sterile cloth from inside she unfolded it with a sharp jerk of her hand.  “I wish there was better light in here,” she groused quietly, leaning a knee on the mattress to steady herself, “I need a better look.” She peeled his hand away carefully, leaning closer to peer at the wound; it seemed they’d effectively stopped the bleeding.  Sighing in relief, she began to clean away the dried blood with the saniplast. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>His gaze slanted away from her, down to his hand, clenched in the sheet.  “You could use that little flashlight you had a minute ago.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It made her pause—in the shock of the moment she’d forgotten about it.  Shrugging one shoulder, “I’m already here.”  She brought her other knee up onto the mattress so she wouldn’t be off-balance as she worked; reflexively, Anakin’s hands settled at her waist to help steady her.  “It would probably just slow me down at this point.”  Once the area was cleaned to her satisfaction she rested her hands on his shoulders so she could lean closer still, examining.  The relief she’d felt before grew—free of the blood, the injury looked much more shallow.  “Looks like you won’t need stitches after all, Master.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The saniplast was still wet in her hand so, not wanting to waste it, she turned it toward his hair.  Her strokes were light and careful, not wanting to cause more pain as she drew away the stickiness of drying blood there, too.  After a few moments Anakin cleared his throat.  “Do you,” he did it again, “still need to be so close?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Probably not,” then, without thinking, “but I want to be.”  Her hand stuttered as she realized what she’d said—maybe <em>she</em> needed to worry about a concussion, letting the sentiment out like that when she was usually so careful.  She tried redirecting the conversation.  “You jumped in front of me out there, I saw it,” she noted quietly, “You got this defending me.”  Casting aside the spent saniplast, she retrieved the tube of bacta.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Snips, you just said it wasn’t as bad as you thought,” he returned easily, gaze focused somewhere over her left shoulder, “Besides, you’re my padawan—what else would I do?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You were being protective again,” she accused softly, “and now you’re hurt.” Ahsoka cradled his cheek with one hand, used the other to carefully rub the bacta onto the cut.  Close as they were, tending to him as she was, it was all too easy to return to the feelings she’d let slip earlier.  “And maybe I don’t want you to always <em>only</em> see me as your little padawan.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There was a beat of silence, and then a shaky huff of laughter.  “Careful, Snips,” he joked weakly, trying to look anywhere but directly at her, “Someone hears you talking like that, they might get the wrong idea.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was an opening, an opportunity to turn away from the conversation like she’d never started it.  It would be the wiser option to take, she knew that.  Instead she turned his face so that he couldn’t look away.  “Or the right one.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She could feel Anakin’s pulse jump.  Lowering his voice, “You shouldn’t say such things.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why not?” Ahsoka challenged, just as quietly, “It’s how I feel.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In for one credit, in for one hundred, as the saying went.  Her hands slipped down to his shoulders again as she repositioned herself; already straddling him, she lowered herself onto his lap.  Her thumb moved absently against the ridge of his collarbone through his tunic; he’d been wearing his chest plate less and less recently.  “I’ve grown up, but you manage not to see it.” Breathing deep of the scents that clung to him—ozone and sweat and bacta-sweetness—she found her gaze drawn to his mouth and she had to stop herself from leaning in.  Her voice was a soft plea, “What do I have to do to make you see me?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His hands on her hips shifted to hold her more gently then, almost seemed to want to pull her closer.  There was a barely perceptible tremor to his grip, a matching ripple through his mental shields.  Anakin wilted forward, the slightest turn of his head allowing him to nuzzle at her cheek as his eyes pressed closed.  “I see you, Snips...” the movement of his lips against her skin was almost like a kiss, “I do.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She drew a shuddering breath, surprise swelling into happiness.  Before she could allow herself to think better of it, Ahsoka captured him in a kiss.  That ripple she’d felt became a crashing wave as—taken off guard—his shields fell, <em>care</em> and <em>want</em> breaking against her and pulling her deeper in.  He swallowed the small, needful sound that escaped her and she rolled her hips down to earn one from him.  Breathless, “Anakin...”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ahsoka—” she thrilled at the low rasp his voice had taken before the rest of his words sunk in, “we need to stop.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why?” If there was a reason, she couldn’t see it.  Not when his breath was coming fast, his body curving against hers.  Not when she could feel his thoughts screaming into the Force, telling her, “You want this too.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His brows knit and, with an effort, his hands shifted again to hold her still.  “Because I’m your master,” he told her, swallowing thickly, “What I may want doesn’t matter, I have to put your needs first.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Despite herself, a crooked smile tilted her lips.  “I think my needs should be pretty obvious right about now,” she teased, giving a deliberate wriggle.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A strangled little groan escaped his throat.  “Ahsoka, this is already ha—” Anakin winced at himself, cleared his throat, “Difficult.  This is already difficult enough.”  She wondered vaguely if he was aware of the restless movement of his own hand, the backs of his knuckles following the length of her center lek, up and down.  “If the Council ever found out—”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Since when do you care what the Council thinks?” Another time she might’ve put her hands on her hips, now she was reluctant to take them off of him; she kneaded at his shoulders once, twice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Since it involves you,” he told her, somehow managing to sound flip and serious at once.  “They look at us more closely because of me, and I don’t want anyone to have any excuse to say you haven’t earned every honor you deserve,” regret creaked through his voice, and then, pride, “To say you’re anything less than as skilled, and as wise, as you’ve become.” Anakin shook his head, gaze lowering.  “I won’t do that to you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Emotion swelled in Ahsoka’s chest, heat rushing under her skin at the praise.  The pleasure was almost as strong as the disappointment.  “So I’m just supposed to...what?” She struggled for a moment to keep her voice lighter than she felt.  “Stop feeling this way?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anakin snorted as he shook his head again, a self-deprecating grin curving his mouth.  “I’m the last person to tell anyone that.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, at least there was that.  “Good,” she agreed, a touch of her usual sass returning to her voice, “because I’ve tried.” Her shoulders drooped, just a little, “I don’t think these feelings are going away.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Think of it more as setting them aside.” This time, she knew, he was very aware of how he touched her as he soothed a hand down her right lek, curled his fingers loosely around the tip.  “What’s one of the first things I taught you?”  He gave her lek a small, gentle shake, “About the Council?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ahsoka cast her mind back to a different time and frustration, a different ‘no’...that hadn’t really been a ‘no.’  “Doing what the Council says is one thing,” she quoted, feeling a growing note of hope, “How we go about doing it is another.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He nodded.  “The problem right now is that I’m your master, but I won’t always be,” he told her, drawing a deep breath and releasing it as a sigh, “Once you’ve been knighted, as long as we can keep our focus where it needs to be, rather than on an attachment...”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was true—relations between a master and padawan were reprimanded if discovered, but no such stigma existed for Jedi of the same status.  And while she wouldn’t exactly be knighted in a day, it was still much sooner than ‘never.’  <em>Patience is the Jedi way</em>, she reminded herself, only half-sarcastically, and she must have let it slip across to Anakin because he huffed a laugh.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Alright,” she agreed, “so tomorrow we’ll go back to business as usual, and it can be like today never happened.”  Gathering the remains of her former boldness, she leaned in again.  “And, since today never happened—why are you shaking your head again?” He was holding her in place again, too.  Now she did put her hands on her hips, back straightening.  “Who could possibly know something happened, once, way out here?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His smile was small, and lopsided, as his gaze fell to her waist, her hands accidentally perched atop his there.  Anakin’s voice was warm, but regretful.  “I’m not so good at keeping things to just once.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ahsoka did not point out that that didn’t speak well to the idea of him keeping himself from attachment later.  Instead, she sighed out a soft sound of frustration and banged her forehead gently against his shoulder; his quiet laughter was affectionate as his arms came up around her, patting her back as he let his own head fall back against the wall behind him with a quiet ‘thunk.’ She turned her head, absently nuzzling her face into the curve of his neck.  “Well, if it’s alright,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around him as she settled against his body, “I’m just going to stay here for a little while, then.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>From the corner of her eye she could see his slip closed, felt him relax against her.  “Yeah, Snips,” he told her, his embrace tightening, “it’s alright.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! You can find me on tumblr @singmanyfaces if you want to drop by. :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>